Loveless and Loved
by Lialee Ederian
Summary: Two lives. Two choices. Acceptance... Rejection... Life and Death... Tom and Minerva.


**Hey guys! Yep... Another one. Hey! I just can't help it! This is a one-shot though... So...**

 **Anyway, enjoy reading. I was just going though my favorite pairings in Harry Potter the other day, and decided; eh why not?**

 **So this got you guys a Tom Marvolo Riddle x Minerva McGonagall fanfiction! Yay!**

 **Anyway, I do _not_ own Harry Potter. This belongs to the esteemed Lady J. K. Rowling. **

**Happy reading!**

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 **Loveless and Loved**

He first saw her on the train to Hogwarts. He didn't know what made him gain an interest in her. She wasn't anyone who would be useful to him. She wasn't even that pretty. Soon, though, he shook off these thoughts and turned back to his newly made… 'friends'.

The next time she caught his attention was at the sorting. Proudly, she had donned the hat, and proudly, she was announced a Gryffindor, her eyes shining with pure, unadulterated glee that so mesmerized him; he had never seen it before. But then, two tables and centuries of enmity between Slytherin and Gryffindor separated them, and again, he forgot.

The third time he noticed her? It was one term into their first year, and already he had gained the awe and love of most of the teachers and his year mates. So when she appeared in all her righteous fury and regal glory, he did _not,_ in any case probable, expect her to punch him squarely in the stomach, all for _'upsetting her best friend'_. And believe you me, she punched _hard._

This earned her detention, yes (One of the only few she'd ever get), but now he started watching her for real.

Two years passed without any real interest. Most of the school was now under his thumb, the main unvariables being Albus Dumbledore and her, Minerva McGonagall. She was a favorite of the transfiguration professor, always earning points for Gryffindor… she was the only one not swooning over Tom Riddle, that was for sure.

And strangely, that fascinated him. _She_ fascinated him.

He was sure every girl in her year (Hell, every Hogwarts' girl she knew) was probably sporting at least a tiny crush on him, and what was sad, was that it wasn't even and exaggeration.

She? She was different. Dauntless, candid, and yet, ruthless. Ruthless to him, and only him.

Perhaps she noticed the underlying cruelty that he undeniably carried.

Perhaps it was just… something else.

Perhaps.

The next year, there was a ball. Pairs were chosen by the professors to 'promote interhouse unity'.

And so, for a whole night, she was his. Only his.

They danced, tried a few meaningless topics in conversation. They ate at the banquet. And then he took her outside. In his eyes, she was goddess, in the brilliant white hue of the moonlight.

This night led to a semi-regular meeting. Oh, she still proclaimed that she rather hated him, but from the reluctant fondness in her sparkling eyes… he wasn't so sure.

They both became prefects in their fifth year. She almost always smiled in his presence, he could only truly be himself in her's. But then he released the basilisk, and she was petrified. He wanted to stop. He wanted to give up… but he couldn't. He had come too far and a piece of himself resided in his trusted diary, and a new ghost haunted the bathroom with the entrance to the chamber of secrets.

The rest of the school year he spent ignoring his very own ice princess.

There was a hole in his heart when he returned for his sixth year. The only cure wouldn't talk to him. It took him half a year to persuade her to forgive him. Another half passed before she accepted his proposal.

Amidst the webs of confusion, lies and trickery, she was his support; his lifeline.

She soothed him, calmed him, and for that he couldn't, _wouldn't_ let her go.

They became head boy and head girl; a perfect pair.

And then, when they said good-bye to Hogwarts, he told her _everything._ His mistakes, his regrets, his plans... He told her of what they would gain, what _she_ would gain. He would crown her a Queen, he promised, make her a revered goddess.

She just looked into his eyes sadly, and softly asked if he would give it up for her, if he would become the man she truly held on a pedestal.

He called her to accept him… She turned away in rejection. The two did not cross paths again. He thought of her constantly, his only anchor to humanity. He waited, but she never returned.

So he went on without her, heart lost and broken into uncountable pieces, and made himself destroy every lingering thought about her.

He succeeded.

The very last time his mind visited these memories, was when his soul – his _whole, unfractured_ soul – rose from his body in a broken battlefield, light and free. And then, he wondered.

He wondered what his life would have been like if he had accepted her request, or she had accepted his.

One last time, his eyes closed to the world, to her, proud, yet alone – his love lost, and his spirit forgotten.

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 **Woohoo! I am done! Did you guys like it? If you did, kudos! If you didn't... Oh well. Everyone has their own tastes (Not what I really think). See you!**


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